Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Eldorado is a city in Saline County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,534 at the 2000 census, with a 1925 peak of 8,000. Although the city's name is spelled as if it were Spanish, it is pronounced /ɛldəˈreɪdoʊ/ or /ɛldəˈreɪdə/. Originally, the name was "Elder-Reado" -- a combination of the last names of the town's two founders, Judge Samuel Elder and Joseph Read. According to legend, a signpainter for the railroad painted the name "Eldorado" on the train depot; as a result, the spelling and pronunciation was forever changed. Eldorado is included in the Illinois-Indiana-Kentucky Tri-State Area and is a bedroom community in the Harrisburg Micropolitan Statistical Area. The junction of the pioneer Kaskaskia and Goshen Trails was located just south of the city. The Goshen Trail began in Old Shawneetown, Illinois and ran along the east side of Eldorado and on to Goshen, Illinois, a community near the present day East St. Louis.